IDEX Online Research: U.S. Jewelry Sales +5.3%

(IDEX Online News) – Jewelry and watch sales in the U.S. totaled $5.54 billion in September, posting a 5.3 percent year-over-year increase during the month. Sales by specialty jewelers' increased by 4.2 percent to $2.26 billion as they continue to lose market share.

Jewelry sales alone, excluding watches, totaled $4.9 billion in September, up 5.3 percent year-over-year, based on US Department of Commerce data. The rate of sales growth is shrinking, marking a third consecutive month of decline since June of this year when year-over-year growth rate stood at 7.1 percent according to recently adjusted figures.

On a month-over-month basis, jewelry sales in September decreased by 3.1 percent. The decline is part of a cyclical trend. Historically, after decreasing in June and July, jewelry sales in the U.S. increase in August and decline again in September, as the following graph shows.

Watch sales in September continued the strong growth trend seen so far this year. Watch sales of an estimated $655 million increased by 5.9 percent on a year-over-year basis. Month-over-month, watch sales decreased by 2.9 percent in September.

Change in total retail sales in the U.S. is less pronounced than change in jewelry and watch sales in the country. While both are growing, jewelry and watch sales are growing at much greater rate than total retail sales (excluding autos), as the following graph shows.

Specialty Jewelers market share is shrinking. In September, their market share was 40.7 percent compared to a 59.3 market share held by other merchants.

These are merchants are retailers who offer a wide variety of goods, such as clothing, handbags and even food, and include department stores and discount stores such as Walmart.

American consumers are voting with their wallets – and showing an interest in jewelry in 2013. While we see a long-term growth trend, in the past few months this growth has been slowing. This is not a reason for concern, at least not yet. However, all sectors of the jewelry industry should pay attention to this change and ensure that they are ready for a shift in direction – if it indeed happens.